Bordertown Blaze Battles Weather in Game 1
The Bordertown Blaze opened up their 2025 16/18U arrowhead league season Monday Night at home for a pair of games against the Grand Rapids Thunder hawks. In game one the Blaze got off to an early lead when Payten Rousseau scored off a double from Jaeleigh Carlson. The Blaze soon took a 2-0 lead when Presley Rousseau scored off a Mimi Babiracki double in the 2nd inning. The visiting Thunder hawks got on the board in the 3rd inning scoring 3 runs helped out by a couple errors defensively by the Blaze. The Thunder hawks went on to score added runs in the 4th and 5th innings taking a 5-2 lead into the bottom half of the final inning. Mimi Babiracki lead the inning off with a double and then went on to steal 3rd base and home to make it a 5-3 game. Unfortunately the Blaze didn’t manage score another run and took the loss 5-3. Jaeleigh Carlson was exceptional on the mound striking out 10 Thunderhawks while giving up just 4 hits. Carlson also had 1 RBI with a double. Mimi Babiracki also had a pair of hits for the Blaze.
In game 2 it wasn’t just a battle against the Thunder hawks but also a battle against the incoming rain! The thunder hawks got off to an early 1-0 lead in the 1st inning, but the Blaze battled back to tie the game at 1 in the second inning when Jaeleigh Carson led off the inning with a double and was hit in by a single to Left field by Lizzie Robar to get her first RBI of the season. In the bottom half of the 2nd inning the Thunder hawks took back the league 2-1. Unfortunately, the weather ended up putting an end to the night when the rain and thunder moved into the area. Because of league rules, once thunder or lightning is confirmed the game must be suspended for a minimum of 30 minutes. The teams mutually decided to end the night as a no contest. The Blazes coach Kershaw was pleased with the start of the season with them only having 2 Practices prior to the games with a team that has 11 girls who do not play school ball. He was also very pleased with the pitching of Jaeleigh Carlson who after striking out 10 batters the first game had started the second game striking out 4 batters in the 2 innings played.
Next Monday the Blaze are on the road to Hibbing to face off against the Bluejackets for a pair of games.
The Blaze coach Bryan Kershaw would like to thank Tilson Bay Company, Super One Foods along with Timm Ringhofer and Beth Slatinski with Community Education for the continued support and availability to continue to play summer ball. Without all of their help, none of this would be possible!